


Spock's Christmas Adventure

by seraphina_snape



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Christmas Party, Christmas Presents, Crew as Family, Family Feels, First Christmas, Gen, Kirk/Spock sort of implied, Spock POV, basically all the Christmas things, cheesy Christmas traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 10:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3116186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphina_snape/pseuds/seraphina_snape
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kirk decides the Enterprise needs some Christmas cheer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spock's Christmas Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written in December 2011 for the Advent Calendar challenge @ fandomverse and posted [here](http://thewordyplague.livejournal.com/13554.html). I just found this again and thought I'd share - even if it is a couple of weeks late for Christmas.

"I am not familiar with this holiday." 

"No way!" Kirk said into the sudden silence that had settled over the bridge at Spock's statement. "You were at the academy for _years_ ; someone must have mentioned Christmas."

"Let me clarify, Captain. While I know of the basic traditions and customs of the holiday as well as the mythology behind it, I have never experienced them first hand."

"Your mom--"

"My mother practiced few Earth holidays during her time on Vulcan," Spock said stiffly. "Christmas was not one of them."

Kirk pondered this for a moment. Then he clapped his hands. Spock felt a tingle of alarm but pushed it down. It was, after all, illogical to be apprehensive of such an innocuous action.

"All right, kids! It'll take us six days to reach the Mandolian system. We were going to run a few simulations and drills on the way, but new plan," Kirk said, grinning. "Instead, we're having Christmas." 

"Captain--"

"Sir--"

"Keptin--"

"Oh, shut up. You're all gonna love it," Kirk said confidently.

Spock felt the urge to sit down.

**DAY ONE**

The first day of Captain Kirk's Christmas Campaign - there had been a memo distributed among the crew the night before, but Spock's computer had mysteriously crashed every time he'd tried to access this ship-wide memo, so all Spock knew was that Kirk had dubbed the project 'Christmas Campaign' - saw Spock accosted in the hallways, on the bridge and even in the mess hall by well-meaning individuals with a varying range of vocal talents.

It all started when Spock left his cabin for the morning shift and met Ensigns Palermo and Stoddard in the hallway outside the command crew quarters. Palermo humming under her breath was nothing unusual. Over the course of their journey so far Spock had heard her hum many a song to herself. What was unusual was that Stoddard decided to join in, and soon they were not humming, but instead singing. Quite loudly, too. Spock moved to walk past them, but Palermo and Stoddard followed him, still singing, until he stepped into the lift. 

Spock allowed himself a small sigh of relief at the blessed silence. It didn't last long.

The whole alpha shift crew was already assembled when Spock exited the lift and stepped onto the bridge. But they were not manning their stations. Instead, they stood in two neat rows in from of the viewscreen. Kirk stood in front of them, arms raised like an orchestra conductor, as he led them in a very original rendition of _Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer_.

Spock blinked.

"Well?" Kirk looked at him expectantly. "Did you like it?"

"It was very melodious," Spock said.

"Awesome." Kirk turned around and made a shooing gesture at the crew who dispersed and took their stations. "It's Day One of the Christmas Campaign I've started. Christmas Carolds. Uhura searched the net for traditional songs and the crew have been practicing all morning."

"Ah."

"What, ah?"

"I was merely expressing an understanding of an event that occurred this morning, Captain."

"Huh?"

"Ensigns Palermo and Stoddard sang when I walked past."

Kirk grinned. "Well, get used to it. There's gonna be a lot more of it today." 

Unfortunately for Spock, Kirk turned out to be correct. After an impromptu Christmas concert in the mess hall and several smaller 'concerts' in the hallways, Spock was ready to return to his blissfully quiet quarters.

Only to find Kirk and his guitar there.

"You up for a private concert?" Kirk asked.

"Captain--"

"Ah! It's Jim when we're alone. You promised."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "I am fairly certain I never made a promise to that effect."

"All right, whatever, _Commander_." Kirk was sitting on Spock's bed, his guitar settled on his thighs. "Get comfortable; I'm gonna play my favorite Christmas song for you."

Spock chose to remain standing, but he relaxed his stance a little. Kirk rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting. Instead, he started playing.

Unlike most of the crew's songs, this was neither kitschy nor gaudy or humorous. It was a quiet, almost sad melody, but the lyrics were joyful and full of hope. Spock had a feeling that if his day had started with this, it would have gone a lot smoother.

**DAY TWO**

When Spock left his quarters the next morning, he listened for ensigns belting out Christmas songs, but couldn't hear anything but blessed silence. However, the lighting in the corridor seemed to be unusually dim. Instead of the stark overhead lighting, strings of small light bulbs were strung along the walls. They were interspersed with additional lights in the form of snowflakes, stars, snowmen, Christmas trees and other shapes generally associated with Christmas.

Cautiously, Spock made his way to the lift and froze when the doors slid open. Hanging from the ceiling of the lift were a number of glass ornaments. They emitted a soft light that changed color every few moments. 

Even more apprehensive now, Spock exited the lift but things on the bridge were not as bad as he had expected. Although the fact that almost every crewmember present was wearing non-regulation outfits bothered Spock more than the twinkling lights strung between consoles and across chairs or the paper and plastic Christmas stars and Santa Clauses stuck to any flat surface did. 

"Morning, Spock." 

"Captain," Spock replied, walking across the room to his station. Kirk turned to face him and Spock nearly couldn’t keep his expression under control. 

"Noticed my sweater, Spock? Isn't it great?" To illustrate the point, Kirk gripped the hem of his bright red sweater and pulled, making the image on it appear slightly distorted. 

"It's very colorful, Captain," Spock said. On the sweater there was a mountain of colorful presents next to a heavily-decorated Christmas tree with a fireplace off to one side and Santa Claus snagging a few cookies from the mantelpiece.

"Wait till you see the back," Kirk said, already standing up to show Spock. On the back of the sweater was the image of an old-fashioned roof with a sleigh and a number of reindeers on it. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Indeed." Spock wanted to ask how Kirk came into possession of the sweater and why he’d thought to bring it to a deep space exploration mission, but the answer would more likely than not be completely illogical, so Spock refrained.

Spock looked around. Sulu and Chekov were wearing Santa hats, Nyota's earrings were miniature Christmas trees and the hem of her customary red uniform skirt was lined with a fluffy white material. The captain was the only one who wasn't wearing his uniform top at all. 

"Captain, regulation states that all personnel on active duty have to adhere to the Starfleet dress co--"

"Say no more, Spock. Because I knew this would get your panties in a bunch, Day Two of my Christmas Campaign specifically gives all members of the Enterprise crew permission to wear non-regulation clothing for a 24 hour period as long as said non-regulation clothing is related to Christmas." Kirk gave him a smug smile. "So no demerits or punishment duty for anyone you see in a fuzzy red Christmas sweater today." 

"Understood," Spock said. It would be another long day.

Much later, Spock was not surprised to once again find Captain Kirk in his quarters. But instead of the horrific decorations he had imagined, his quarters looked largely the same. There was a new candle on his table, red instead of white, and a small twinkling star was attached to the wall above the bed. 

"This is okay, right?"

"The decorations are not overwhelming," Spock said. 

"Good.... The candle is scented. Cinnamon, I think. I’ll leave you to it."

"Good night, Captain."

"It's Jim," Kirk said. "Night, Spock."

**DAY THREE**

The start of the third Christmas Campaign day went surprisingly normal and unusually smooth. There were no singing ensigns in the hallways, no additional decorations (Kirk had elected to leave the Christmas lights in place but only use them to replace the regular lighting during gamma shift) and everyone he encountered on his way to the mess hall was wearing regulation uniforms.

At the replicator Spock requested a fruit salad and water. What he got was a plate of sugar cookies and tea. Spock noted the malfunction, set the cookies aside and tried again. After the fifth try, he had a plate of cookies, a plate of gingerbread men, a whole gingerbread house, candied apples, a spicy cake-like thing, four cups of steaming hot tea and a glass of water. Spock drank his water and then headed for the quartermaster's office. 

"There appears to be a malfunction with the mess hall replicator, Petty Officer B'En."

"Please don't tell me it's making meat cookies again. I worked all night to get it just right and -- what is it, Commander?"

"You've programmed it to dispense only cookies?" 

"Sixteen varieties of Cookies, gingerbread and stollen," Petty Officer B’En said, nodding his head. "But don't worry, there will be turkey and other things for lunch. You won't have to eat cookies all day."

"Captain Kirk's order?"

"Yes, sir." 

"I see." 

Spock turned and headed for the bridge, intending to tell the Captain that this sort of action was completely inappropriate. However, the rest of the crew had been more cheerful over the last few days than they had been in the previous months. Their mission was dangerous - there was no denying it when there were funeral services held every so often for the brave beings who gave their lives for their fellow crew mates. Maybe some Christmas cheer was exactly what the crew needed to balance out the bad experiences of the last year.

When Kirk asked about the cookies, Spock gave a non-committal answer and turned to his work. That evening, when Kirk knocked on Spock's door, he looked anything but cheerful. 

"You hated it." 

Spock raised an eyebrow. 

"Okay, so you found it greatly illogical or most displeasing or whatever the hell Vulcans call it when they hate something," Kirk said. "Don't you like cookies?"

"I wouldn't know," Spock said. "I never had any."

"Not even this morning? After all the trouble we went through? Petty Officer B'En and I were up half the night reprogramming the replicators!" 

"Sugar cookies did not seem an appropriate breakfast food."

"Yeah, we figured that out eventually, but by then it was too late to go through all the code again to switch it up." Kirk gave him a sheepish smile. "But it could have been worse than cookies for breakfast. For a while there the taste was pretty disgusting. Starfleet replicators just aren’t meant for baking, I guess." 

Kirk bid him a goodnight and turned to leave. 

"Captain?"

"Yes, Spock?"

"I was wondering what custom or tradition is scheduled for tomorrow." 

"Then I guess you'll have to wait and see, Spock," Kirk said, grinning. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

**DAY FOUR**

The next morning started suspiciously normal. No singing, no decorations, no cookies. Everyone on the bridge behaved normally, although a strange sense of anticipation hung in the air. It followed Spock through the morning and well into lunch.

It wasn't long until Spock returned to the bridge after lunch that he noticed they had changed their course slightly. They had, in fact, stopped. 

"Captain, what--"

"Hang on, Spock. I have a ship-wide announcement to make first," Kirk said. He hit the transmission button. "Attention all personnel, this is Captain Kirk. We are now in orbit around 7349-F3. Please proceed to the transporter rooms according to schedule. Kirk out."

"Captain?"

"Ready for more Christmas fun, Spock?"

Spock must have looked less than thrilled because Nyota stepped up to them. "It _will_ be fun, Spock. And you can always just watch if you don’t want to play." 

Together with Sulu and Chekov, she left the bridge. 

"Come on, Spock. We need to get changed." 

Spock allowed Kirk to lead him back to Deck D where Kirk pulled Spock into his quarters and handed him a sweater, a heavy jacket, a scarf, a pair of gloves and a hat. He then proceeded to outfit himself in a similar fashion. Spock followed Kirk's example and soon found himself in transporter room 3 alongside several other crewmembers decked out in heavy clothing.

7349-F3 was uninhabited due to the eternal winter raging on the surface of the planet. It was in the shadow of a larger planet and thus never received any light from the system's sun. Once they had beamed to the surface of the planet, Kirk headed for the cluster of engineers standing nearby.

"Scotty! Everything going according to plan?" 

"Aye, Captain. We're nearly there, shouldn't take more than--"

Suddenly a large patch of snow was illuminated by strong floodlights arranged around them in a loose square.

"Ah, there we go. We're all set," he said.

"Awesome." Kirk waited until everyone had gathered around him. "Okay, Christmas Campaign Day Four: Snowball fight! Everybody grab a hand of snow and let's have some fun!"

Kirk bent down, grabbed some snow and promptly shoved it down Scotty's back. 

Scotty yelped and shook himself, glaring at the Captain. "I'll get you for this, Captain or not." 

Kirk just laughed and reached for more snow. 

Spock took a discreet step back when one of the snowballs whizzed past his head, missing him by mere inches. He wasn't hiding - he simply had no desire to receive a face full of snow. The rest of the crew didn't seem to mind, though. Spock was content to stand and watch them enjoy themselves.

After some time, Kirk extracted himself from the ongoing snowball fight and retreated to Spock's position.

"So, what do you say?" 

"It appears to be a success," Spock said.

"You should have joined. I bet you would have hit your target every time. Plus all that running and throwing and ducking would have warmed you up a little. You're giving off ice cube vibes."

"Ice cube vibes?"

Kirk nodded. "Like you're frozen solid."

"Vulcans can regulate their internal temperature in extreme weather situations. We have been here for 1.947 hours. That and the insulating clothing means it would be some time until my body temperature would become instable." 

"Well, last chance to join in. We're beaming up again in ten minutes to give the rest of the crew a chance to play in the snow."

Spock couldn't resist. "Actually, given the chemical composition of the--"

He was abruptly cut off by a fistful of snow being shoved in his face. Spock only partially managed to evade the attack.

"Ack! Not another word, Spock. The science department said it wasn't harmful to us and that's all I need to know. I don"t want to know what the not-snow is actually made of, okay?"

"Of course, Captain." 

"Good." Kirk turned and headed back into the fight. 

Spock wiped the rest of the snow off his cheek and brushed it off his ear. Slowly, he bent down and picked up a hand of snow, forming a large round snowball. Spock took note of the distance between him and Captain Kirk and, taking into consideration the Captain's movements, calculated a trajectory for the snowball. 

It hit the captain squarely in the back of his head. While Captain Kirk spluttered and tried to identify the culprit, Spock almost smiled and called the Enterprise for a beam up.

**DAY FIVE**

The effect of four days of 'Christmas cheer' was showing when Spock arrived on the bridge the next morning. Nyota was wearing glittery red earrings in the shape of Christmas tree ornaments. Chekov was humming one of the less obnoxious Christmas songs under his breath. Captain Kirk was - quite obscenely by human standards, going by the amount of tongue involved - eating a red-and-white striped candy cane.

"Spock! Good morning!" Kirk stood up and removed the candy cane. "Christmas party in the rec room tonight." 

There was indeed. After beta shift, Spock found himself following the Captain to the officer's rec room on deck C. Before they could even see the rec room, they could hear that the party was in full swing already. The songs were different than the Christmas carols the crew had been singing, but they all seemed to feature a Christmas theme. 

"There was a period on Earth where Christmas was even more popular than it is now," Kirk said over the noise of music and background conversation. "Pretty much every band they had at the time made at least one Christmas song. I think Sulu happened to find the _best of_ album with all 500+ songs."

Spock nodded. The rec room was crowded. In fact, the party had spilled out into the corridor and the neighboring rooms due to a lack of space. It wasn't Spock's idea of a good time to be inside a room full of slightly inebriated people, but he did like seeing his crew mates so cheerful and carefree. 

The dress code had been lifted and there were only few personnel in uniform, himself and - oddly enough - Captain Kirk included. The colors red, white and green seemed to dominate the room as far as decorations and the crew's clothing were concerned. Nyota was a minor exception to that color scheme: she had kept the red ornament earrings, but she had exchanged her uniform for a black skirt and a purple sweater with a white trim.

"Come on, let's get some food!" Kirk nodded over to the other side of the room where a table stood laden with food. Spock carefully assembled a dish of vegetables and the flower petals that were, as far as Spock could see, being used as decoration. 

Kirk had drinks for the both of them: two glasses of a steaming liquid that smelled both spicy and highly alcoholic. 

They ate in companionable silence - if, Spock reflected, one could call it that in a room where the background noise was loud enough that one had to raise one's voice to an uncomfortable level to make oneself understood. 

Instead of conversing with Kirk, Spock surveyed his colleagues. In one corner hung a piece of mistletoe - or a rather good representation of one - and whenever two people happened to stand underneath it, Security Officer Giotto seemed to glare at them until they kissed. 

"Cupcake is an awesome enforcer," Kirk commented, following Spock's line of sight. "I talked him out of bringing a phaser, though. No weapons allowed at Christmas parties. After all, it’s a holiday of peace and love and all that."

Spock nodded. There were few things more volatile than a crowd of inebriated people who had been stuck together on the same ship for well over a year now. Although he had to admit that there hadn't been many in-ship altercations beyond the usual scuffles that occurred when several hundred people occupied the same limited space. Still, Spock assumed that the medical department would be incredibly grateful for the weapons restriction. 

"I'll get us some more drinks." 

This time, Kirk came back with eggnog for himself and hot chocolate for Spock. Spock would have preferred something less intoxicating, but one glass surely wouldn't hurt his dignity too much. 

It proved to be the last clear thought Spock would have for the night.

  
**DAY SIX**

The next morning was more subdued than the rest of the week's mornings had been. People spoke in hushed tones and moved slowly and carefully. Spock himself didn't feel any physical discomfort but it disturbed him that he didn't have too many clear memories of the night before. There were flashes of Kirk bringing him more drinks. Spock distinctly remembered seeing the mistletoe facsimile up close, meaning he must have stood under it. Meaning he must have kissed someone. He would have to mediate to recover his memories.

"All right," Kirk said quietly. "Day six of the Christmas Campaign - presents! We're docking on Starbase 44 in a couple of hours to refuel and restock. Take the chance to do some shopping and be quick about it. You won't get more than two hours." 

Spock was familiar with the layout of Starbase 44 and quickly calculated the most expedient route for his own shopping. As this Christmas Campaign had initially been for his benefit, he didn't doubt that the bridge crew would get him presents. Tradition dictated that he reciprocate. 

Once they had docked and the official business was well underway, Spock excused himself and headed to the shops. New earrings for Nyota, seedlings for Sulu, a book about Russian history for Chekov, a bottle of Scotch each for Doctor McCoy and Lieutenant Commander Scott. It wasn't until he was almost back aboard the Enterprise that Spock realized he'd forgotten to buy a gift for the Captain. It was too late to turn around, so Spock continued on his way back. 

There had been no arrangements made for the distribution of presents, so Spock clutched his bag of gifts and headed for the rec room. He found Sulu and Chekov, as expected, playing cards and handed over their gifts, pocketing the ones he got in return. Nyota was in her quarters. She, unlike Sulu and Chekov, insisted that they should open each other's presents right away. Her gift to Spock was a set of two artfully crafted figurines, one male and one female. 

"They represent life and death. They're meant to bring joy and prosperity into your life," she explained. "I figured they would fit in with your decor." 

Spock nodded. They would indeed. "Thank you, Nyota."

After that he made his way to Doctor McCoy, only to find the sickbay empty. He left the bottle on Doctor McCoy's desk and headed down to engineering. Scotty was, unsurprisingly, working on something that would no doubt improve the engines' performance even more - or cause several minor explosions. Scotty inspected his gift, opened it, took a healthy swig and said, "Now that's what I call a merry Christmas." He laughed and handed Spock a PADD. 

"I re-programmed the food replicators to make a few more traditional Vulcan dishes," he said. "That's a list of the codes and what dish they correspond to. You'll have to punch in the code since I haven't worked out vocal commands yet. I can't get the pronunciation right, so it never gives me what I asked for."

Spock promised to go over the list, find audio files of the corresponding dishes and send them on to Scotty for some final tune-ups. Spock was oddly touched by this gift. He usually tried not to think about Vulcan and all that he had lost, but he did find himself missing the occasional piece of home. Perhaps Scotty's gift would help with that. 

The nature of the gift also made Spock think about his gift to the captain. After some consideration, Spock decided on giving the captain a book that had come into his possession some years ago via his mother. It was a history of the human race's first space explorations. It always made Spock a little uncomfortable to handle the book since it was leather bound and he got faint impressions from the animal of whose skin the leather had been made. 

"Spock, just the man I wanted to see!" 

Spock turned. He had been on his way back to his quarters, intending to get the book and then find the captain. It seemed that he wouldn't have to look far. 

"Captain."

"Your place or mine?" Kirk asked, wagging his eyebrows. Upon Spock's raised eyebrow, he clarified: "To open our gifts."

"My place then. I am not carrying your present with me."

"So I'm way ahead of you there," Kirk said, holding up a brightly-wrapped square box. Spock led the way to his quarters and removed the book from his shelf. 

"My research mentioned that a personal, self-made gift is often worth more than one that was commercially bought," Spock said. He handed Kirk the book. "This book once belonged to my mother. I understand that you have an interest in both books and the history of space travel, so I assumed this to be an appropriate gift." 

Kirk hesitated. "Spock, this is way too much. Do you know how much this is worth? It's over a hundred fifty years old. First edition, and leather bound. It's priceless." 

"I have no interest in the subject matter and the book itself is not very pleasant to touch for me. I believe my mother would have liked knowing it belonged to someone who appreciated it beyond the fact that it once belonged to her." 

"Wow, you fight dirty." Kirk made a face, then smiled and took the book. "All right, I'll keep it. Thank you, Spock. It's an awesome gift." He put the book down on Spock's desk and handed Spock the box. "Be careful, it's fragile." 

Spock unwrapped the gift carefully. The box was surprisingly heavy. Inside of it was a glass sphere, one side flattened so it wouldn't roll away. But it was what was inside the sphere that took Spock's breath away. It was a visual, three-dimensional representation of a space map, more specifically a corner of the Vulcan system. Spock couldn't help but stare at it. Inside the sphere, Vulcan and T'Khut where shining brightly among a smattering of small stars. 

"Well?" Kirk said. "Do you like it?"

"It's--" Spock cleared his throat. "I like it very much. Thank you, Jim."

They spent the rest of the night playing chess, but Spock had to admit that he was distracted. His gaze kept being drawn to the sphere on his bedside table.

Kirk, noticing his distraction, grinned. "So... Christmas. It went pretty well, don't you think?" 

"I noticed a marked improvement in crew morale," Spock said. 

"Exactly," Kirk said, rubbing his hands together. "So what do you say - you, me, everyone else: Christmas - same time next year?"

Spock found himself not opposed to the idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Happy New Year!


End file.
